Rail-joint.



No. 7|2,255. v Patenten out. 28, |902.

D. o. BRUNNER.

ARAIL JOINT.

(Application med my 1'3, V1902.)

(N0-Model.)

W/T/VESSES; /N VEA/(OH /RMQ W pazzia/z dB/'unizar W l v By m M Arron/VHS.

UNITED STATES vPATENT OFFICE.

DANTON o. VBEUNNER, or SOMERSET, OHIO.

yRAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 712,255, dated October- 28, 1902.

Application filed May 13, 1902. Serial No. 107,073. (No model.)

To all whom` it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANTON O. BRUNNEE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Somerset, in the county of Perry and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in rail-joints; andthe object that Ihave in view is the provision of improved means for protecting the meeting. or adjacent ends of two rails from the pounding or hammering action of the wheels of passing cars, thereby contributing to the easy and smooth running of trains, reducing the tendency of the parts t0 work loose, and minimizing abrasion and wear of the joint.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an improved form of rail-chair designed to couple the ends 'of ad jacentrails in such a way as to dispense with the use of ordinary angle-bars and bolts, whereby the track can be laid more expeditiously and the cost of maintenance is reduced, owing to the fact that the time of the track-repair gang is not consumed so largely in inspecting the joints and tightening the nuts on the bolts.

With these ends in View the invention consists of a rail-joint embodying novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed. l

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specilication, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures.

Figure l is a plan view of a rail-joint embodyingmy invention and with certain of the parts broken away. Fig. 2 is a vertical crosssection taken in the plane indicated by the dotted line 2 2 of Fig. l. Figs. 3 and 4 are views in side elevation and plan, respectively, of an end portion of a rail adapted for use in connection with the improved chair. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross-section through the improved rail-joint, illustrating a slightly-modified form of the chair, the plane of section through the chair being indicated by the dotted line 5 5 of Fig. 6; and Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of a chair embodying my improvements and shown in its applied position by Fig. 5.

V5, and 6 of the drawings.

The improved chair of the present invention consists of a plate 5, an upstanding web 6, and a foot-iiange 7, all of which are made of a single piece of metal'in any usual or preferred way-as, for example, by casting the chair. The plate 5 of the chair should be made of sufficient length to span a series of ties, and, as shown byfFig. l, this plate is adapted to rest upon three of the ties, (indiv cated at au) but it will be understood that the length of the plate is not material. The flange 7 extends-lengthwise along one edge of the plate 5, and this liange is arranged to extend upwardly a suitable distance from the rail-engaging face 5a 'of said plate, the inner edge of the flange 7 being undercut to form a groove 8, whereby the iiange is adapted to overhang said rail-engaging face of thebase-plate, as shown more clearly by Figs. 2, The web 6 extends in a vertical direction from the upper face of the plate 5, and this web should be made of sufficient length to extend longitudinally of the plate, although this specific length of the webis not a material part of the invention. The web is preferably made tapering in crosssection in order that it may have engagement laterally with the foot and head of the railway-rail, and this tapered form is given to the web by making the inner face 6a at an angle to the outer exposed face 6b, said inner face 6n being inclined in an upward direction away from the rail-engaging face 5 and the outer exposed face 6b of the web, as shown more clearly by Figs. 2, 5, and 6. The web should be high enough to lie substantially flush with the top active edge of the rail-head; but it is not necessary that this top edge of the web throughout the length thereof should be in flush relation to the corresponding edges of the meeting rails. It is sufficient to have the middle portion of the web at the top thereof lie in flush relation to the top edges of the rails, and I there fore prefer to make the end portions of the web inclined or curved, as indicated at 8, thus bringing the end portions of the web below the plane of the middle portion thereof alongits top edge, as more clearly represented by Fig. 6. The highest part of the web is at the middle thereof, so that the web may span the joint between the meeting rails, and this ICO high part preferably extends a short distance on opposite sides of the joint, while the receding portions 8 of the web are adapted to lie slightly below the top faces of the rails, thus giving a good approach for the wheels on the web when said rails pass over the joint. The outer edge 0f the base-plate 5 projects beyond the web 6, and in this extended edge portion of said base-plate is formed a series of spike-openings 9. The other flanged edge 7 of the base-plate is also provided with a series of spike-openings 10, the latterextending through a portion of the upstanding iiange 7. The base plate is adapted to be placed firmly upon the series of ties a, and suitable spikes 11 can be driven through this plate in order to firmly fasten the chair upon the ties.

One of the important features of my invention consists in the provision of means whereby the rails may have interlocking engagement with the chair, and these parts are held together preferably without the employment of bolts and angle-irons. In embodying this part of my invention in the chair I provide it with the locking-lugs 12 12a, the same being of angular form in cross-section and disposed at suitable intervals from each other on the inner inclined face 6a of the upstanding web 6. These locking-lugs rise from the rail-engaging face 5 of the chair, and they have vertical inner edges, as represented by Figs. 2, 5, and 6. The rail to be used in connection with the improved chair,

is represented by Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5, and is indicated by I). The foot b of this rail is provided with a notch or notches 13, and, as shown by Fig. il, I prefer to provide a notch 13 in each side edge of the rail-foot. It will be understood that the rail may be provided with one notch in one side edge of its foot; but for convenience in laying the rails I prefer to employ the notches in both side edges, thus enabling the rail to be brought either end t0 toward the joint and properly engage with the chair.

In the construction of the chair shown by Figs. 5 and 6 the upstanding web 6 is provided with a transverse and longitudinal recess 14 and with a slot 15 along its lower portion, said slot arranged to expose an edge p0rtion of the rail-foot when the rail is properly seated in the chair. This construction of the web enables me to place certain of the spikeopenings 9 in the vertical plane of the web 6, and the spikes can be driven through this part of the plate 5 in a manner for the heads to engage with the foot-flange of the rails on one side thereof.

In laying the track the chair is placed on the ties a., and it is fastened thereto by driving the spikes through the holes 10 and through some or 'all the holes 9. The rail is now brought to the chair, and it is canted or tilted to an inclined position in order that one side edge thereof may slip into the groove 8a of the overhanging flange 7, the notch 13 in the rail being placed in alinement with one of the lugs12, after which the rail is dropped into place in a manner for the lug 12 to enter the notch 13. This arrangement brings the opposite edge portions of the foot of the rail into engagementwith the grooved edge of the overhanging iiange 7and the lower Vpart of the inclined face 6n on the upstand- The upper face of the web 6 extends across j the meeting-line between the two rails, and the high part of this web is disposed in flush relation to the meeting ends of the rails, as shown by Fig. 5, whereas the end portions of the web lie slightly below the heads of said adjacent rails, as shown by Fig. 2. The rails are kept in their proper places by engaging with the flange and the web of the chair, and the endwise displacement of the rails is prevented because they have interlocking engagement with the chair, owing to the lugs 12 12a iitting in the notches 13 of said rails. In practice I prefer to make the locking-lugs 12 of less width than the length of the notches 13, as shown by the broken-away portion of the chair in Fig. 1, and this construction allows the rails to have the necessary expansion and contraction due to atmospheric changes. If a chair of the style shown by Figs. 5 and 6 is employed, the rail has a portion of its foot exposed through the slot 15 and the recess 111 of the vertical web, and this allows one or more spikes to be driven through certain of the holes 9, so as to engage with the rail, thereby contributing to the security of the rail-fastening.

If preferred, the top part of the upstanding web (shown by Figs. 5 and 6) may be reinforced by the provision of a rib 16 on the outer recessed face 14, said rib extending longitudinally along the middle portion of the web and compensating for any weakening of the web due to the formation of the recess and the slot thereon. The employment of the upstanding web having the peculiar relation heretofore described to the meeting edges of the rails is an important feature of the present invention, because this web is made to sustain a part of the weight of the train when passing over a joint, and the action of the wheels on the rails at the meetingline thereof is minimized, thus overcoming the pounding or hammering effect of the Wheels on the ends of the rails, reducing abrasion or mutilation of said ends of the rails, and contributing to the ease and smoothness of the passage ofy the train at the railjoints.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A rail-joint chair comprising a tie-plate,

IIO

and an upstanding web having a wheel-bearing top edge, said web provided with a longitudinal slot or recess, the edge of which slopes inwardly toward the inner face of the web, and said tie-plate having spike-openings which are exposed through the slotted Web.

2. A rail-joint chair comprising a tie-plate,

'and a longitudinally-recessed web having a wheel-bearing top edge', said tie-plate being provided with spike-openings which are exposed by said recess of the web.

3. A rail-joint chair provided with an upstanding Web having a Wheel-bearing face, said web being also provided with a longitudinal slot adapted to expose the foot of a rail seated in the chair.

4. In a rail-joint chair, the combination of DANTON O. BRUNNER.

Witnesses:

W. F. GORDON, W. J: KRUNLAUF. 

